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Unions For 85,500 Telephone Workers Threaten To Strike

August 05, 2000|By From Tribune News Services.

WASHINGTON — Unions representing 85,500 telephone workers in a dozen Eastern states said they will walk off the job at midnight Saturday if contract talks don't bring an agreement on wages, benefits, job security, working conditions and access to non-union workers.

Union negotiators on Friday were reviewing a Verizon Communications proposal addressing many of the issues, Verizon and union officials said.

The unions were preparing for a strike that could take workers off the job in 12 states and the District of Columbia. Striking operators and technicians could leave 25 million homes and businesses without help setting up phone services, repairing or installing lines or calculating their phone bills.

The company's wireless telephone services would not be affected by a walkout, company officials said.

Verizon, based in New York, was created in June by the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE Corp.

The Communications Workers of America represents about 72,500 Verizon workers.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers represents 13,000 others.